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‘The Apgar score’s as good as expected She’s holding her own We’ll transfer her to SCBU’ She smiled ‘As soon as the mum’s up to it, she can come in and see her baby But can you prepare her for lots of noise,and tubes, and tell her it isn’t anywhere near as scary as it looks?’

‘Will do,’ Madison said

There was a tense moment when Mrs Staveley’s blood pressure started to drop, but after another transfusion Bill and the anaesthetist pronounced her stable

‘Are you all right?’ Theo asked Madison as they cleaned up afterwards

‘Sure You did a fantastic job, Theo’

‘The tea you But you’re looking shattered You’ve had enough Go home—and that’s a work order, so you have to do what I say,’ he added

‘How about a coo when Mrs Staveley comes round’

‘As long as you sit down right now’

‘Bossy,’ she gruht The shtly

When Mrs Staveley had come round from the anaesthetic, Theo sat next to her and held her hand ‘Mrs Staveley, I’irl She’s a good weight for her age, and Erin—she’s the consultant in the special care baby unit—says she’s holding her own’

‘Can I see her?’

‘Not just yet,’ Theo said ‘Not because there’s a problem with her, but because we’ve had a feorries about you—you needed a couple of transfusions, and you need to rest under close observation for a while’

‘I want to see my baby’ A tear trickled down her cheek ‘I…I’ pathetic’

‘Don’t apologise You’ve been through the o and see your baby myself and take a Polaroid, so you can see for yourself But I do have soently ‘And he’s pretty desperate to see you I’ll go and fetch hio and check on the baby for you and report back’

‘My baby’s really going to be all right?’ Mrs Staveley asked Madison

‘She’s in the best hands right now And Erin says you can see your little girl any time you like—so as soon as Theo’s happy to let you be et a wheelchair and take you to see her’ She paused ‘They’ll be giving her oxygen to help her breathe, and because they keep a close eye on all the babies in the unit you’ll see a lot of wires and tubes and monitors—it looks a lot scarier than it really is,’ Madison reassured her